I think he will be back for the beginning of the season if it is only a partial thickness tear. The problem with MRI's and arthrograms, as far as diagnosis being a "partial" tear is that the imaging results don't produce 100% accuracy, not even close. He could have cartilage that is torn inside of what the image actually resonates......so underneath the "partial" tear they are able to "see", may reveal a full tear.

I had a half torn labrum (same injury as Dwight Howard) and two different ortho's didn't even notice it as more than a blip....it all depends on the direction/types of the tearing. If it folds over, there's no way to tell.......the 2nd doctor I saw, who told me my results were negative/benign, only agreed to do arthroscopy on me because my shoulder was dislocating, and I was in obvious pain.

MRI's and all that crap are very imperfect sciences.....this article is mostly irrelevant as far as revealing a timetable yet.

They will only know once they go in with the arthroscope. I doubt they did an exploratory arthroscopy because the swelling is still probably pretty gnarly. I'm no doctor, but I just dealt with a ton of this ish, having a recent shoulder surgery, and I got way in to the research side of it. Depending on his current range of motion, they would be smart to do a pre-surgical rehab if they think it's only partial. They will know exactly what weight/motions he can and can't bear and won't push it.

Rondo is a badass and he's tough as $h!T. I feel like his youth/size/athleticism all play to his favor in making a full recovery. As cool as it would be to see him come back for playoffs, that is absolutely insane amount of risk. The tissues will not even be close to healing. I'd rather see a 100% Rondo for 5-10 years rather than a extra bullet in the chamber to MAYBE aide in a playoff push.